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Tabbouleh

Tabbouleh is a parsley salad. Let me clarify again; it is not a bulghur wheat salad with a sprinkle of parsley as I have seen in many supermarkets. Some people in Lebanon don’t even add bulghur wheat and if they do it has to be fine bulghur wheat not the coarse one. Soak the bulghur wheat about five minutes before serving the tabbouleh as you don’t want it too soggy.

In every family Lebanese family there is someone who is really really good at making tabbouleh. In mine it’s my husband because he is more meticulous than me and doesn’t rush it 😁 Although some people use a food processor to chop the parsley I don’t recommend it as it becomes slushy and uneven. You also want to use nice red salad tomatoes that are still a bit firm as they will be too difficult to chop if they are mushy. Using the best basic ingredients is key so when choosing your bunch of parsley, the leaves should be vibrant and not too coarse, the lemons should be fat and juicy and the extra virgin olive oil the best you can afford.

A brilliant tabbouleh can only be achieved by chop chop chopping the parsley again and again until it is fine enough. Don’t be stingy with the olive oil as the parsley soaks it up and you don’t want it dry. I love eating tabbouleh with grilled meats and a side of chips (hand-cut obviously) and it is also substantial enough to be eaten by itself as a light dinner (a side plate of hummus wouldn’t hurt either). But everyone knows the best and messiest way to eat tabbouleh is to scoop it up in gem lettuce leaves and scoff it down in the most inelegant way possible. Sometimes it just has to be done 😊

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....or as we Lebanese say; Ahla w Sehla! :)
Here you'll find recipes collected from my Lebanese Mama, some regional classics and some secret family recipes. I come from a family of exceptional home cooks and I don't think I even went to a proper restaurant until I went to college, whereby I tried everything only to realise I'd been raised on gourmet food without even knowing it. My Teta (grandmother) was a legendary cook from Lebanon who could rustle up a feast out of nothing. My mother too ...